As those skilled in the art are aware, particularly those who fish in cold, sub-polar waters, the existing devices for cutting frozen bait fish such as frozen herring, use different mechanisms for cutting their frozen bait fish. In some instances the bait is cut by hand. However, among the machines used is one with a hydraulic powered shaft with round blades rotating at high speed. The nature of the device makes the cut at ninety degrees to the long dimension of the frozen bait fish body. A primary drawback to the rotating cutting machines is that the herring must be soft in order to be fed into the machine otherwise the herring simply bounces on the cutting edges. Accordingly, since the frozen bait herring is stored on board the boat, the bait must first be thawed in order to be used in such machines. Thawing, however, is a particular problem in cold climates such as Alaska or any other waters in which extreme cold weather may be encountered. Thawing can also be detrimental to bait quality in warm climates where the bait will spoil before it can be used.
As was mentioned some boat crews will still cut their bait by hand. When the number of pieces of bait in a day's time extends into the thousands it will be appreciated that the amount of crew time devoted just to cutting bait is substantial. However, existing machines have not made it possible to cut frozen bait fish.
Among other drawbacks of existing multi-bladed cutting machines, is the fact that none of the known devices can be successfully applied to the task of cutting frozen herring in a speedy and proper manner. Among those drawbacks are long blades which are susceptible to being bent and misshapen by an object as rigid as frozen herring. Additionally, most of the multiple-bladed cutting devices which might be applied to cutting frozen bait use a yoke type holder. This type of blade holder is deficient because it is subject as stated above to being bent and because of the fact that it takes up an undue amount of space or area. Another problem with existing multi-bladed devices is the fact that they have not been designed specifically for a task such as cutting frozen herring. Frozen bait fish such as herring or other substances tend to stick to whatever they are cut against and can be difficult to remove. Another drawback of existing devices is that they have no proven means or procedure for placing the item to be sliced into the device. In just about all cases the bait has to be positioned under the blades and this is a slow, tedious and time-consuming procedure. In the prior art devices having multiple blades for cutting, the blades are attached in a group and obtain their power to cut from a lever attached to a pivot. The pivot method requires an extensive amount of motion and space to operate. For instance, to achieve a cut through a two inch object the end of the lever motion may have to move double or triple the thickness of the object to be cut depending on the resistance encountered. Finally, the pivot method of mounting multiple blades results in a cutting motion that is arcuate and therefore there is a tendency for the hard or frozen object being cut to squirt or to be squeezed away from the pivot.
Among the prior art references of which applicant is aware are the following United States patents, none of which is relevant to the subject matter of the instance invention. The known prior art references are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,288,921; 843,427; 2,158,667; 717,223; 1,614,282; 2,883,748; 1,078,191; 1,075,439; 1,178,363; 1,183,472; 1,374,278; and 1,582,103. The only one of the identified patents which deals with fish in any way is U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,921 to Rhynes which is a fish scoring device and not a frozen bait cutter.